Barr: 'No surprise if upgraded to a medal'

Thomas Barr says he could easily be upgraded to an Olympic medal in years to come.

The Waterford man finished fourth in the 400 meters hurdles in Rio on Thursday - just missing out on a medal by 0.05 seconds. He says advances in anti-doping means anything is possible.

"If I get upgraded to an Olympic medal because of doping it would be a real hollow victory," said Barr. "There's part of me that doesn't want it to happen but at the same time I wouldn't be surprised if it does.

"You can only race what's put in front of you. They're innocent until proven guilty. All I can do is hope that anti-doping keeps up with doping and keeps on it's heels."

"I find it unfair in some ways to hear that other countries anti-doping policies aren't as good as Ireland's. I've been tested ten or twelve times this year already, twice out here at the Olympics.

"When I know I am being tested that often and I know I am doing it the hard way there are other guys out there who are still putting in hard training but getting that extra edge on everybody else it's so unfair."

Failed to load widget object.

"I can't think of it then because if I start thinking about that kind of thing I'm putting myself out of any race I go into before I even go into it.

"We don't let it fester, we don't let it get into our heads. As athletes we have to just put it aside. We're trying to go out there to try and run our best. If we're constantly thinking that we're being hard done by or if we put more energy into thinking about what other athletes are doing, whether they're on drugs or not you're never going to be able to perform to your best."